China-Australia Relations

Overview

Australia-China relations are characterised by strong trade bonds. China is Australia’s largest trading partner, while Australia is a leading source of resources for China. More recent trends show that Australian exports are now expanding well beyond the resource sector.

Politically the relationship has had its ups and downs. In recent years there have been concerns over Chinese investment in Australia, Beijing’s establishment of an Air Defence Identification Zone in the East China Sea, and the arrest of ethnically Chinese Australian citizens in China, among others. But there have also been high points to the political relationship. In 2013, China and Australia agreed to establish a prime-ministerial level dialogue between the two countries, which makes Australia one of only a handful of countries to have such a dialogue.

What the Lowy Institute does

Lowy Institute Senior Fellow and expert on China and North Asia, Richard McGregor and others provide regular commentary on Australia-China issues. The Lowy Interpreter also features regular discussions on the bilateral relationship from a wide range of contributors.

The Lowy Institute’s Richard McGregor has noted the absence of China discussion in Australia’s current election campaign, a state of affairs which prompted his colleague Sam Roggeveen to observe that “Bipartisanship on China is becoming a form of collusion”. Given that the

Governments in Australia are judged, in part, by their handling of the relationship with China. And while foreign policy has barely featured in Australia’s election campaign, the Chinese government is watching our election with interest and intent.
An early release of this year’s Lowy

In the darkest days of John Howard’s pre-Lazarus life, before the triple by-pass and successful political resurrection, one of the many ways he was disparaged as being unfit to be prime minister was the argument that he simply did not have the presence or the bearing to represent Australia

Sam Roggeveen wrote recently on the need for the government to be more forthcoming about its security assessments on China, specifically, allegations of influence and interference activities conducted within Australia. The trigger was Andrew Robb’s interview for the ABC, in which the ex-

In the Uighur-Australian communities of Adelaide, Sydney, and Melbourne, almost everyone can tell you a story of losing contact with family members in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of China, known as East Turkistan to the Uighur people.
What is occurring in the Uighur homeland

China’s fishing fleet has been at the forefront of disputes in the South China Sea, and the expansion of China's fleet into the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean may soon create new security headaches for Australia.
In 2013, the decline of fish stocks in Chinese waters, together with China’s

Senator Sam Dastyari has found himself back in the spotlight after Australia media outlets reported allegations that Dastyari gave Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo 'counter-surveillance' advice and unearthed the audio from Dastyari's now-infamous media conference last

I recently co-convened a small international academic workshop with a Chinese university. Since we wanted to involve quite a few China-based scholars and the topic concerned China, I thought it made perfect sense to hold the workshop in China.
A number of scholars from outside China were to attend

The recent decision by Allen & Unwin to drop Clive Hamilton's book on Chinese influence illustrates that China need not exert much effort in influencing us. We're doing the job ourselves.
Hamilton's book Silent Invasion: How China is Turning Australia into a Puppet State was pulled, according

In a recent speech at the University of Adelaide's Confucius Institute, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Secretary Frances Adamson tackled the controversial issue of Chinese students in Australia. Her comments were both shrewd and part of a larger pattern of Australian government policy

It’s difficult to see any future for Australia that does not involve China in a big way, whether it is in trade, services, investment, regional security, cultural exchange, and migration. It follows that ensuring a secure and prosperous future for Australia means getting the relationship with

In the classic Cold War-era film Invasion of the Body Snatchers, aliens quietly invade earth by replicating the bodies of each human being they encounter. The resulting 'pod people' take on the physical characteristics, memories, and personalities of the humans they replace. In its day, the film was

Chinese students in Australia are attracting attention. Former Fairfax China correspondent John Garnaut said last month that Chinese students embody a 'racial chauvinism' that Beijing is exporting to Australian universities. This was followed by The Australian’s China correspondent Rowan

The recent presence of a PLA-N auxiliary general intelligence vessel off Queensland has generated some interesting discussions. Euan Graham and James Goldrick are right that the incident undercuts Beijing’s own objections about US close-in surveillance of mainland China. There is no small amount

Ideological differences between states do not necessarily inhibit co-operation in the achievement of mutually agreed ends. To realists in particular, it is axiomatic that national interests should dictate the purposes to which diplomacy is directed. An extradition treaty with another state may be a

On Sunday Chinese Premier Li Keqiang concluded his five-day visit to Australia having signed a slew of bilateral agreements. Li Keqiang last visited Australia in 2009, a year described by former ambassador to China Geoff Raby as ‘our collective annus horribilis’.
Eight years ago, few could

Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech at Davos in January presented China as the natural protector of the global order after the abdication of the US from the position. Premier Li Keqiang's four-day visit to Australia (which starts today) will demonstrate that China is still keen on presenting

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's week-long visit to Australia (and New Zealand) comes amid a flurry of diplomatic activity spurred by US President Donald Trump's disruption of the international relations equilibrium.
Li's main objective is promoting trade and investment, particularly through President

Our first thoughts should be for Americans, and the damage that has been done to their institutions, their society and their national self-respect. But there is nothing to say about this American tragedy that has not been said far better by Americans themselves. So let’s leave it at that.
Our

There’s been a good deal of mixed messaging coming from Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce recently.
This week he made headlines by declaring to an audience (which included the Chinese ambassador) that Labor's policies for insisting on rules concerning vegetation

This is a disconcerting period for all those hoping to see more pushback against China's bid for supremacy in the South China Sea, and its pressure tactics towards that end. The US is in the throes of an epochal political convulsion masquerading as a presidential election campaign. Its ability to

It is early days, granted, but the Philippines' crude and crass new president Rodrigo Duterte appears increasingly intent on reversing his predecessor's plucky South China Sea policy and pro-Alliance leanings, opting instead for a tilt towards China.
The Philippines' proclivity to flip-flop in its

Managing China’s money
Ambitious Labor Senator Sam Dastyari may have lived by and then died by the mainstream media with his apparent cash for comment supporting China’s role in the South China Sea in conflict with Labor’s official party line. But for a smart politician who

With the G20 leaders' summit in full swing earlier this week, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has been meeting with leaders from the UK, India, France and China.
Turnbull had much to discuss with Xi Jinping in particular, as The Australian's David Crowe reported:
An

When the City of Sydney issued a statement after cancelling a Mao commemoration concert planned for this week, it cited concerns over public safety, the potential for civil disturbance, insufficient planning, and a lack of control over ticketing. It did not mention the public opposition to the event

The Australian Financial Review is running an ‘agents of influence’ series, in line with the media’s shift from a focus on Chinese investment to a broader discussion of China’s influence in Australia. One article has cast a shadow over the million-plus ethnic Chinese in

This column will appear fortnightly on The Interpreter.
National security
If one thing is clear from the foreign investment debate after the rejection of Chinese bids for NSW power distributor Ausgrid it is that this issue can’t be treated like an 'on water matter'. That&

Security trumps economics, or so the Ausgrid saga seems to have taught us.
But maybe this framing is all wrong. Security and economics might be better thought of as being directly connected. If this is so, Australia is in real danger of building a poorer, less secure future through a flawed premise

It has been an interesting few months in Australia-China relations. Following the Ausgrid decision, accusations of drug cheating at the Rio Olympics and the response to the arbitral tribunal decision, Australia has been on receiving end of considerable Chinese chagrin. Whether in the formal

It’s less than four years since then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard launched ‘Australia in the Asian Century’ at the Lowy Institute. It has sunk, with hardly a trace.
There was much inspirational language about the great opportunity the Asian Century gave Australia to undergo 'a

Just when Treasurer Scott Morrison will have been hoping to put last week’s surprisingly tough move against two Chinese power industry investors behind him, a major new report has reopened the entire Chinese foreign investment debate.
The biggest ever independent study of the future of the

This weekend, swimmers Mack Horton from Australia and China's Sun Yang are expected to race each other in the 1500m freestyle final, an event that is shaping up to be one of the big moments of the Rio Olympics with a nationalist focus that goes well beyond the pool.
On day one of the Games,

Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison has blocked both Chinese companies bidding for a 50.4% share of the lease to operate New South Wales electricity distributor, Ausgrid.
Morrison said the decision was taken on national security grounds.
Somewhat ominously, Morrison's media release only

This column will appear fortnightly on The Interpreter.
Selling the farm - or not?
Treasurer Scott Morrison’s preliminary decision to block the sale of NSW power distributor Ausgrid to Chinese companies will be a watershed in Australia’s approach to the rise of China. That’s

How seriously should we take China's Global Times? This always interesting question is particularly pertinent after the nationalist tabloid took aim at Australia on Saturday, referring to Australia as a 'paper cat', and promising revenge for Australia's position on the South China Sea dispute.&nbsp

The lights are still on in Manila.
That must come as quite a surprise to defence hawks who like to beat the drum that the sale of New South Wales electricity distributor Ausgrid to a Chinese company could compromise our national security and be contrary to the national interest.
Last week, Peter

Dr Michael Leach makes a number of inaccurate claims in his Interpreter post: 'The PCA ruling, Australia and Timor-Leste'.
Dr Leach asserts Australia is engaged in a ‘two-step’ in its approach to international law with China and Timor-Leste. He also appears to accept a premise of Australia’s

China’s national pride as well as its ambitions to exert control over the South China Sea were dealt a heavy blow by the 12 July decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in the case filed by the Philippines. As expected, Beijing firmly rejected the ruling, declaring the award